Unlearning: The Top Secret to Being Successful | By: Tony Ogunlowo

We all want to be
successful in life; whether it is in our professional or private lives.

We want successful
relationships’, successful careers and we want to be seen as being successful
in everything we do in the eyes of the world.

Schools of thought will
have us believe that to be successful you need to harness your talent; work
hard and it’ll all work out.

They are wrong!

The true secret to being
successful in life is to un-learn everything you think you know.

Un-learning means breaking
with tradition and setting off on a different tangent on your own. Everything
we’re taught at school, college or university doesn’t mean you’re going to be a
mega-success in life – even though it’s a start – no knowledge is wasted! You
might earn more being a graduate or something but the real success only comes
when you strike it out on your own.

From a very early age we
are indoctrinated. We are taught the differences between right and wrong, what
society expects of us and not. Our very lives are moulded in such a way that we
have to conform – or be damned. As a result we find ourselves trapped in a
system that determines what is best for us rather than the other way round or
what we can do to improve the system.

To escape the
indoctrination, that we have been subject to since birth, we need to think
outside the box – perhaps even betting the farm on what we believe is right.

Life’s greatest thinkers,
innovators and entrepreneurs did not get to where there are today by toeing the
line – they gambled and took a leap of faith into the unknown……

When Bill Gates set up
Microsoft in a bid to change the way everyone in the world accessed computers,
the cheapest computer cost over $100,000 and was the size of a room. Apple,
under the tutelage of the late Steven Jobs, introduced us to out-of-this-world
high tech devices we can’t live without. Even Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of
Harvard to gamble everything he knew on a platform that would change the social
media interaction forever. People like Richard Branson didn’t become successful
by following the ‘norm’. He only became successful as a result of him being a
maverick that stood up to the establishment (and still does) and did things
differently.

To be successful in life
most of the things we’re taught at home, in schools, colleges and universities
is sometimes totally irrelevant. Read the biographies of the ten richest men
(and women), in the world today, and you’ll find they are either university
dropouts or people who have stuck a finger up at the establishment and opted to
follow their own gut instincts.

How can you be successful
when you’re following the same path – like goats being led to the slaughter –
like everyone else? You need to be different. You need to be able to push
boundaries and challenge the order of things – not forgetting hard work and
inspiration.

Only a brave maverick
becomes successful in life.

To be successful in life
you need to think outside of the box. You need to be brave to be able to go
rogue, bet the farm, and follow your gut instincts. People, without any doubt,
will laugh at you, put you down and criticize you and why won’t they? They will
because you’re the only one who’s brave enough to venture out into the unknown
– and stake your reputation and everything you have on it.

It doesn’t matter what
talent, financial backing or connections you have if you’re not prepared to
un-learn everything the establishment has taught you over the years, believe in
yourself and what you’re doing, and strike it out alone following your
gut-instincts you’ll never be successful.

Now the next step is to
discover your niche – something you’re good at doing. Everybody was born with a
unique talent of their own. It could be playing football, music or acting.
Others are talented in science, teaching, banking or being political maestros.
Everyone has something they’re very good at.

Once you’ve discovered your
niche – work on it! Rome wasn’t built in a day! The mere fact that you’re the
world’s greatest programmer does not mean you’re going to build the next
Facebook or Microsoft without putting in the hard work of which most of it will
go unrewarded – initially!

There will be distractions. People will laugh at you
and put you down – a young David Beckham was once advised to go and learn a
trade like bricklaying or motor mechanics instead of kicking a ball around!

You will need to be
disciplined. If you can dream it you can achieve it. To be successful you have
to follow a rigid pattern of hardwork-hardwork-hardwork-hardwork – there is no
rest until the objective is achieved. There will be unlimited sacrifice – the
loss of your social life, for instance, lack of sleep – perhaps even financial
and relationship problems – all of which must be surmounted.

Statistics show that out of
every hundred people who start out in life only five will be successful by the
time they retire – the other ninety-five would have fallen by the wayside. So
which category do you want to be in? Among the successful five per cent or the
ninety-five per cent who didn’t make it?